hot medium
- noun
- Specialized
- According to McLuhan, radio is a hot medium because it gives listeners detailed content with little involvement required.
Examples
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Compared to television, film is a hot medium, engaging viewers with its high level of detail.
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Photography is considered a hot medium, as the viewer receives a complete image with little missing information.
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Television is a popular hot medium for storytelling.
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Many artists prefer using a hot medium like photography.
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According to McLuhan, radio is a hot medium because it gives listeners detailed content with little involvement required.
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Photography is considered a hot medium, as the viewer receives a complete image with little missing information.
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Compared to television, film is a hot medium, engaging viewers with its high level of detail.
Synonyms
A way to send or store information, for example television
Antonyms
- Archaic
A way of communicating that gives little detail and asks the audience to imagine the rest
How Detailed
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a specialized, McLuhanian term where 'hot' means 'high-definition, low-participation' rather than the everyday sense 'trendy' or 'very warm.' A B1 learner who knows 'hot' and 'medium' in common senses would not reliably infer the technical idea of a high-definition communication channel that requires little audience participation, so the meaning is not transparently derived from the parts.
Etymology
Hot medium was a term used by the thinker Marshall McLuhan. He used hot to mean 'full' of detail and medium to mean a way to send messages, so the idea is a form of communication that gives a lot of information and needs 'little involvement' from people.